Hacker News with Generative AI: Software Licensing

German router maker is latest company to inadvertently clarify the LGPL license (arstechnica.com)
A German case clarified that LGPL source isn't enough—it needs to be usable.

Legal Issues, Open Source, Software Licensing, Germany

64 points by tapper 7 days ago | 7 comments

Free-software warriors celebrate landmark case that enforced GNU LGPL (theregister.com)
Sebastian Steck, a software developer based in Germany, has obtained the source code and library installation scripts for his AVM FRITZ!Box 4020 router, thanks to a lawsuit funded by the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC).

Free Software, Law, Open Source, Software Licensing

13 points by thebeardisred 8 days ago | 0 comments

What Happens to Relicensed Open Source Projects and Their Forks? (thenewstack.io)

Open Source, Software Licensing, Software Forks

109 points by zdw 20 days ago | 32 comments

Academic papers yanked after authors found to have used unlicensed software (theregister.com)
An academic journal has retracted two papers because it determined their authors used unlicensed software.

Academic Research, Software Licensing, Plagiarism

8 points by baud147258 64 days ago | 0 comments

Academic papers yanked after authors found to have used unlicensed software (theregister.com)
An academic journal has retracted two papers because it determined their authors used unlicensed software.

Academic Papers, Software Licensing, Research Integrity

11 points by clcaev 64 days ago | 2 comments

Software freedom isn't about licenses – it's about power (2021) (rosenzweig.io)
A restrictive end-user license agreement is one way a company can exert power over the user. When the free software movement was founded thirty years ago, these restrictive licenses were the primary user-hostile power dynamic, so permissive and copyleft licenses emerged as synonyms to software freedom. Licensing does matter; user autonomy is lost with subscription models, revocable licenses, binary-only software, and onerous legal clauses. Yet these issues pertinent to desktop software do not scratch the surface of today’s digital power dynamics.

Software Freedom, Software Licensing

38 points by pabs3 80 days ago | 11 comments

How Should I Price a Python Module License for Major Banks? (ycombinator.com)
I have an opportunity to license a Python module to several major banking institutions—some of the largest in the world. Typically, we offer this software as a web app, but these banks need a local module to run within their own environments.

Python, Software Licensing, Finance, Banking

11 points by mafellows 127 days ago | 13 comments

Ask HN: Should I open source my licensing server? (ycombinator.com)
Recently developed an in-house "zero trust" license server based on PKI idea, blockchains, and proof-of-time, to convert a regular "vendor hosted" license server, into one that can be hosted on the buyer side.

Open Source, Software Licensing, Security, Blockchain

41 points by keepamovin 131 days ago | 29 comments

AT&T sues Broadcom for refusing to renew perpetual license support (arstechnica.com)

Lawsuits, Technology, Telecommunications, Software Licensing

7 points by LinuxBender 134 days ago | 0 comments

Sustainable Licensing at Element with AGPL (element.io)

Open Source, Software Licensing, Sustainability

13 points by Arathorn 134 days ago | 3 comments

Ask HN: Help me understand paid software released under AGPL3 (ycombinator.com)

Open Source, Software Licensing, Legal, Software Development

5 points by darkhorse13 172 days ago | 6 comments

Ask HN: Alternatives to Gumroad for "software licenses"? (ycombinator.com)